Philosophy at the Institute of Red Professors (1921–1938): Institutional Forms, Methods of Teaching, Students, Lecturers

Abstract

The article explores the history of the Institute of the Red Professors in philosophy (1921–1938).
Referring to the unpublished documents in the State Archives of the Russian Federation and the
Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the author explores its financial and infrastructure
support, information sphere, characterizes students and teachers. The article illustrates the practical
experience of the functioning of philosophy within the framework of one of the extraordinary
“revolutionary” projects on the renewal of the scientific and pedagogical sphere, reflects a vivid and
ambiguous picture of the work of the educational institution in the 1920s and 1930s and corrects
some of historiographical judgments (about the politically and socially homogeneous composition
of the Institute of Red Professors, the specifics of state support of its work, privileges and the social
status of the “red professors”).